Notes

cf. Martin Bekker. (1990) Gregoire Boonzaier, Cape Town: Human & Rousseau. A similar example is illustrated in colour on page 61.

This mosque, built on the corner of Chapel and Muir Street in 1938 to replace earlier mosques which the Muslim community had outgrown, is better known today as the Muir Street mosque. The largest masjid in the city, it formed the focal point of the religious and cultural activities of the people of District Six.[i]

Painted in 1960 at a significant moment in history, before the proclamation of District Six as a white area and the consequent evictions, the painting captures the mosque as it was then – central to a thriving multicultural community that was rich in its religious, racial and ethnic diversity. The streets, bordered by period houses characteristic of the Cape, are alive with people going about their business, providing insights into what has been lost and allowing us to imagine what life must have been like at that time.

Today the surrounding landscape has changed. Most of the surrounding buildings are gone, and new land restitution housing has emerged nearby. Yet the mosque, now further renovated and expanded, still stands proud as a testament to belief and a bastion of resistance to oppression. With paintings such as this, Boonzaier contributes to preserving the cultural heritage of old Cape Town and the memory of District Six.

[i] http://zeenatul-islam.com/history/